By now, you've probably seen the Mission One electric superbike. It's a rare motorcycle that can garner the kind of instantaneous, Internet-wide coverage this bike has. How has it done so? With a mix of green credentials, good design and high performance; the Mission One will hit 150mph and has a range of up to 150 miles on a full charge. But while we feel all the positive press is deserved, we want to take a closer look at the reality behind its creator's claims.

Update: We've embedded the first video of the Mission One live and in the flesh below. While the bike does appear to both exist and be capable of spinning the rear wheel under its own power, we're still disappointed that we haven't seen it in motion yet.>

Earlier today the Mission One was announced to the world with an emailthat began, "Hello, I hope this finds you well. We follow your blogdaily and look to it often for inspiration within our studio." Thisidentical email was received by many publications, including Jalopnik,
Gizmodo, Boing Boing, TreeHugger and, yes, Hell for Leather.

That email was almost too good to be true. It contained details of anever before seen product that looked good, went really fast and, mostimportantly, was powered by electricity, meaning it was eco-friendly.Recognizing that there's a very mainstream desire for just such aproduct the editors of these publications jumped at the opportunity tooutdo each other with positive press. The more they could talk theMission One up, the more page views they'd get.

With 100lb/ft of torque available from zero rpm, the Mission onepromises performance to rival gasoline-powered superbikes. Incomparison, a Ducati 1098 R makes 99.1lb/ft at 7,750rpm and 180bhp at9,750rpm. No power figures for the Mission One have yet been released,but, if this chart is accurate, it looks like 140bhp could be a roughfigure. That incredibly flat torque curve sounds wonderfully usable,only beginning to tail off at 7,000rpm, which presumably leads to thetop speed not quite matching that of most liter bikes.

Recharging is claimed to take just two hours using a 240v outlet. Thatmight sound odd, but most electric car companies install such a devicein owner's homes to facilitate rapid charging, we can't see why,especially for $68,995, Mission should be any different. Using an 110voutlet requires eight hours to complete a full charge.

Perhaps more impressive than the machine's looks and performance claimsare the people behind it. The list of employees reads like a list ofrecent wunderkind from companies like Google, Tesla, Ducati and Ford.Which brings us to our concerns.

The Tesla Roadster first captured minds in a similar way to the MissionOne in July 2006. Since then it's received near universal acclaim, buthas only just gone on sale in very limited numbers, for a price thatkeeps getting adjusted upwards even while performance and specs keepgetting less impressive. The current price tag is $128,500, butindications are that a $140,000 figure could arrive as early as thisweek. In all that time the company has managed to blow through over$105 million in venture capital while seeing numerous scandals andturnover among its staff and has still only managed to deliver a smallhandful of vehicles to high-profile customers.

Looking at the Mission One's specs, early indications are that they'revery similar to those of the Tesla Roadster. Like that vehicle, theMission uses lithium-ion cell batteries with intensive cooling andmanagement to counteract the natural tendency for those batteries toheat up under heavy load and catch fire.

Amid the impressive list of components on the Mission -- Öhlins, Brembo,Marchesini -- there's one notable exception: any mention of what kind offrame is used, any picture of it or even an indication as to whatmaterial it's made of. Could the Mission One, like the Tesla Roadster,be based on the frame of a gasoline-powered competitor?

Neither is there a mention of weight, electric vehicles are notoriouslyheavy with the Tesla Roadster weighing 804lbs more than the Lotus Eliseit's based on.

When it comes to the design, we're both incredibly impressed and alittle disappointed. While designer Yves Béhar has achieved a whollynew take on the conventional superbike shape using flat surfaces andright angles to subvert the typically more acute sportsbike archetypethe opportunity to pursue new solutions free from the packagingconstraints of internal combustion was not taken. The decision to dothis was likely taken due to price, proven performance and customeracceptance, not to mention the possible need to use an existing frame.We're also not sure how production-ready these concept renderings are,the tail in particular looks incredibly impractical.

The one the thing that the Tesla Roadster has achieved, that no vehiclebefore it could, is generating proof of mass market acceptance of anelectric car. Because of it, manufactures like GM, BMW, Chrysler andMitsubishi are all bringing electric cars to market. Well, inChrysler's case it's lying, but the other three have genuine electricproducts either on the road or in their near future.

Could the Mission One do the same thing? If it can, the planned initial 2010production run of 50 bikes could have an impact far greater than its limitednumbers.

We don't want to say that the Mission one is all hype as we'regenuinely excited about the prospect of an electric superbike, it'sjust that we're reluctant to commit the weight of our hopes and dreamsto it, at least until we see an actual physical, working example.Fingers crossed.